Steven Guilbeault

Steven Guilbeault (born June 9, 1970) is a Canadian politician and activist who has served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change since October 26, 2021.

After studying computer science in CEGEP, he enrolled in industrial relations at the Université de Montréal in 1989.

A year later, he switched his major to political science.

He minored in theology, exploring questions of international morality, liberation theology, poverty and the environment.

Guilbeault became president of his faculty's student association and also took part in activities organized by Equitas (known at the time as the Canadian Human Rights Foundation).

He was also active in the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), where he made the acquaintance of François Rebello and Nicolas Girard, who would later enter the world of politics.

He also joined the Groupe de recherche en intérêt public (GRIP), created out of the protest movement spearheaded by Ralph Nader, the renowned American consumer advocate.

There he met Laure Waridel, Sydney Ribaux and François Meloche, with whom he would go on to found Équiterre a few years later.

While in university, Guilbeault worked for two years (1992-1993) with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, an organization dedicated to educating people, both at home and abroad, about human rights issues.

After the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1993, Guilbeault, Laure Waridel, Elizabeth Hunter, Patrick Henn, François Meloche and Sidney Ribaux founded Action for Solidarity, Equity, Environment and Development (ASEED).

It acquired not-for-profit status in 1995.

In 1997, Guilbeault joined Greenpeace Canada.

In 1998 it was rebranded as Équiterre.

The organization's goal is to propose concrete solutions to make Canada a society where sustainable development and social economy would be central to the actions and concerns of its citizens, organizations and government.

Steven Guilbeault was a member of Équiterre's board of directors for many years.

He was put in charge of its climate change division and he managed the climate and energy campaign before being the organization's Quebec bureau chief in 2000.

On four occasions, Guilbeault made headlines for Greenpeace, such as when he scaled Toronto's CN Tower in 2001, accompanied by British activist Chris Holden.

At the time the tower was the tallest in the world.

After ascending to a height of 340 metres, they unfurled a banner that read: "Canada and Bush Climate Killers."

Guilbeault and Holden were arrested and charged with mischief.

The goal was to grab the world's attention a week before the UN's sixth conference on climate change, where the fate of the Kyoto Protocol would be decided.

The stunt cost the CN Tower Corporation an estimated $50,000, and Guilbeault was sentenced to one year's probation and the court ordered him to pay a portion of costs.

In 2005, he coordinated the climate campaign for Greenpeace International.

Guilbeault remained Greenpeace's Quebec spokesperson until June 8, 2007, at which time he announced his resignation.

Guilbeault sat on the board of the Agence de l'efficacité énergétique from 2007 to 2009 and chaired the Committee on Emerging Renewable Energy from 2009 to 2011 for the Government of Quebec.

He also chaired the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal's Committee on Sustainable Development from 2007 to 2010.

In 2008, he returned to Équiterre, which he had cofounded fifteen years earlier, to work on climate change issues.

He also sat on the climate change advisory committees of three successive Quebec governments: Jean Charest’s Liberals, Pauline Marois’ Parti Québécois, and subsequently co-chairing the committee formed by Philippe Couillard’s Liberal government starting in 2014.

Stéphane Dion, a former federal Cabinet minister, remarked that Guilbeault "is among the select few in the environmental community with whom it is important to remain in contact, because his reactions and his opinions will count".

Kalee Kreider, formerly with Greenpeace and former communications director for Al Gore, said that Steven Guilbeault "has at once gained the respect of those in government, NGOs and industry."

Guilbeault has been a commentator for CBC/Radio-Canada, La Presse and Corporate Knights magazine, and has been a columnist for the Métro newspaper for nearly a decade.

He worked as a senior consultant for Deloitte and Touche, and served as co-chair of Climate Action Network International for five years.

Guilbeault stepped down as senior director and spokesperson for Équiterre in November 2018, and in July 2019 was nominated as a federal Liberal candidate in the 2019 election.

The son of a butcher, he is of French Canadian descent although his maternal grandmother, Edna O'Farrell, was Irish Canadian.

When he was five years old in his hometown of La Tuque in Haute-Mauricie, Guilbeault refused to get down from a tree that he had climbed, in an effort to block a land developer from clearing a wooded area behind his home.

The tree was felled a few days later, but the event is cited by Guilbeault as the genesis of his environmental activism.

He left that position in autumn 2018.

A member of the Liberal Party, Guilbeault has sat as a member of Parliament (MP) since the 2019 federal election, representing the Montreal riding of Laurier–Sainte-Marie in the House of Commons.

Guilbeault was previously the minister of Canadian heritage from 2019 to 2021.

A founding member of Équiterre, a Quebec environmental organization, he was also director and campaign manager for the Greenpeace Quebec chapter for ten years.